Egypt Grand Mufti Warns Against Judaization of al-Quds
CAIRO (Press TV) – Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawki Allam has warned against the Zionist regime’s plans to Judaize the occupied al-Quds and obliterate its true identity, after the occupying regime’s authorities banned the raising of the Muslim call to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque under the pretext that settlers were celebrating the Jewish holiday of Purim.
Allam, in a statement released on Friday, denounced the repeated incursions of Zionist settlers into Palestinian mosques, particularly al-Aqsa Mosque, under the protection of Zionist troops, and their performance of Talmudic rituals inside the sacred site.
He also slammed the occupying regime officials’ recent repressive measures in the occupied city of al-Quds, stressing the need for implementation of the principles of the international law to stop settlers from holding rites in Palestinian religious sites.
He stressed that the excavation work under al-Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings as well as in the Old City of occupied al-Quds represent a serious threat to the mosque.
Separately, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said the ban was "a call for religious war.”
It went on to urge the international community and relevant UN organizations and councils to assume their legal and moral responsibilities in protecting holy sites.
The Director and head of the Ibrahimi Mosque, Sheikh Hefzi Abu Sneina, said the ban came into effect on Thursday and will remain in place until Saturday evening.
He added that these measures are an infringement on the freedom of worship guaranteed by international law.
The al-Aqsa Mosque compound sits just above the Western Wall plaza and houses both the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque.
According to an agreement signed between the Zionist regime and the Jordanian government after the regime’s occupation of East al-Quds in 1967, non-Muslim worship at the compound is prohibited.
Palestinians want the occupied West Bank as part of their future independent state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of their future sovereign state.
Allam, in a statement released on Friday, denounced the repeated incursions of Zionist settlers into Palestinian mosques, particularly al-Aqsa Mosque, under the protection of Zionist troops, and their performance of Talmudic rituals inside the sacred site.
He also slammed the occupying regime officials’ recent repressive measures in the occupied city of al-Quds, stressing the need for implementation of the principles of the international law to stop settlers from holding rites in Palestinian religious sites.
He stressed that the excavation work under al-Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings as well as in the Old City of occupied al-Quds represent a serious threat to the mosque.
Separately, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said the ban was "a call for religious war.”
It went on to urge the international community and relevant UN organizations and councils to assume their legal and moral responsibilities in protecting holy sites.
The Director and head of the Ibrahimi Mosque, Sheikh Hefzi Abu Sneina, said the ban came into effect on Thursday and will remain in place until Saturday evening.
He added that these measures are an infringement on the freedom of worship guaranteed by international law.
The al-Aqsa Mosque compound sits just above the Western Wall plaza and houses both the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque.
According to an agreement signed between the Zionist regime and the Jordanian government after the regime’s occupation of East al-Quds in 1967, non-Muslim worship at the compound is prohibited.
Palestinians want the occupied West Bank as part of their future independent state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of their future sovereign state.